


And I Am Here Tonight

by CaptainLeBubbles



Series: The Hallmarks of a Family (Hallmarks AU) [4]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Domestic, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:21:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22824772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainLeBubbles/pseuds/CaptainLeBubbles
Summary: It's the sort of night where important conversations are had. The girl who will be known as Penny asks her father's advice.(Pre-series)
Relationships: James Ironwood & Penny Polendina, past James/OC
Series: The Hallmarks of a Family (Hallmarks AU) [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1200967
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	And I Am Here Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> Found this buried on my blog while looking for something else and it's still good so I thought I'd post it up here. I did say I was going to start posting shorts, right?

-/-

Nights like these were James’ favorite, the nights when he sat on the couch reading while his daughter- _daughter_ , he thought, and repeated, his _daughter_ , he turned the word over and over in his mind, wrapping himself around it, he had a _daughter_ \- lay with him, entertaining herself in her own chosen way.

He was currently reading a steamy romance novel that he would deny owning to his dying day, and he was eternally grateful of the existence of an e-reader so that he could go on with his life pretending not to be the giant sap he secretly was. His daughter (daughter, daughter, _daughter_ , it was such a beautiful word) was tucked into his side with her knees pulled up, his free arm draped loosely over her shoulder; she was watching a video that he vaguely recognized as an episode of Vampire Mummy Werewolf: The Animated Series. It was comfortable, and easy, and the perfect time for meaningful conversations.

“Father,” she said, taking her earbuds out. “I need a girl’s name.”

“Oh?” He set his reader aside and turned his attention to her. “Did you have one in mind?”

“I was hoping you did.”

“It’s your name,” he said. “You’re old enough to decide what you’d like to be called.”

“But you are my father,” she protested. “I am your daughter. You are supposed to name me. That is how it works. That is how my classmates got _their_ names.”

Ah, so that was why. He considered for a moment, and then shifted her gently off of him so that he could stand up. “Wait here,” he said. “I need to go get something out of the attic.”

When Josef had died, rather than let his belongings collect in some museum to his memory, James had slowly passed them all on, either to relatives or charity drives or just plain someone he thought could get more use out of them. He wasn’t a fan of clutter, and he knew Josef would prefer his things continue to be used. It was more practical, and Josef had been a practical-minded man.

However, some of his belongings had been kept, whether for sentimental value, or because they were too personal to pass on and too valuable to throw away. Among those were his notebooks- decades worth of them, stuffed full with notes in amid drawings, doodles he’d done to pass the time while he thought. This had been packed up and stored in the attic, but James hadn’t been able to bear throwing them away. Quite apart from the intellectual value that could come from notes on his research, there was also the matter that so much of him was kept in those pages.

It took awhile to find the notebook he was looking for. Eventually, his daughter got tired of waiting and climbed up to watch him search, perched on the edge of the trapdoor and swinging her feet idly.

He finally found the one he was looking for. It was a normal looking notebook; the front was a glossy photo of a cricket, while the back declared that the notebook was seventy pages, college ruled, and listed several phone numbers that one of them had needed to write down in a hurry. James passed it to his daughter.

“When we were cleared for adoption and knew you were coming, we started thinking of names,” he explained. “We kept this notebook of our thoughts on the different names we came up with, since we didn’t always have time to actually sit down and talk.”

He climbed down from the attic and helped her down as well, and then knelt so they were eye-level. “Whatever name you go with from now on should be your own choice- you’ll be the one wearing it, after all. But if you’d like to be named by your parents like other girls are, then we can use that notebook to find one you like.” He straightened up and leaned down to press a kiss to the top of her head. “And this way your dad can be involved in the decision making process, too. I know he would have supported you, if he’d lived long enough to see you transition.”

She stared down at the notebook in her hands, tears gathering in her eyes, and then threw herself at him, hugging his legs tight. “Thank you, Father! Thank you so, so much!”

**Author's Note:**

> Still working on that finale. I'm about a fifth of the way through my planned beats, so it's gonna be awhile.
> 
> SEE? I can write cute things that don't have an angsty price tag on them!


End file.
